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“I know an Indian and he doesn’t care about mascots.”
There are plenty of people in any group who don’t agree with the majority. There are Catholics who support abortion, but the Catholic Church does not. There are Indians who don’t care about it, but there are many tribes formally speaking out about it, representing the majority of Native people.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1rlIXDiQEwxp0dulHG8j5m5Dlu6Ol4Yeb1Z41jC4Qeyc/edit?usp=sharing
“Calling our kids Indians is no different than calling them Bulldogs or Wildcats.”
Indians are a race of people. Humans. Bulldogs and Wildcats are animals. I’m not even sure why that needs to be explained.
“Indians were proud and strong, and we want to emulate those traits.”
First off, Indians are.
We are a current race of people. Still here, alive and well. Indians are not a relic of history.
Second, WHY do you think Indians represent strength and pride? What experience are you basing that from? A movie? A western? Our history of needing to fight to preserve our way of life, keep our land, and protect our families? (Spoiler: we lost that fight and those we lost to turned us into their mascots.)
It's also worth noting that as "Indians" encompasses an entire race of people, the district is lumping together attributes of hundreds of unique Tribes under one name. In reality, while some Tribes do share similarities, many have vastly different cultures, languages, traits and traditions from one another.
“You’re too sensitive. You’re a snowflake. Stop looking for ways to be offended.”
It’s not about being offended. It’s weird. I don’t know why you’d choose a race of people to represent yourselves. Which other races would you be comfortable calling your children?
“It’s our hometown pride.”
Is your hometown pride based on the name of your school or mascot? My hometown pride is based on the accomplishments of our students and children, and changing the name doesn’t change any of those accomplishments.
"Educate, not Eradicate!"
Indianola has never used the name of “Indians” to educate this community on Indians. Ever. When schools began using Indians as mascots years ago, THAT was eradication of actual Indian culture, because they replaced real Indians with stereotypes. Today they don’t have an actual costumed mascot, but they continue to tell students and families that it is normal and okay to use another person’s identity any way you like. Removing the name Indians would not be eradicating Native culture because it’s never been used to teach about Native peoples. Removing the name would be more like returning rights to their proper owners.
Cost
Cost
Contrary to the popular "six-figure" price tag, removing the name "Indians" from the district would not have to break the budget. Officially changing the name could happen immediately at no cost. From there, as uniforms, scoreboards and the football field need to be replaced due to wear, they are simply replaced with "Indianola," "Indy", "I" or something new the district decides on together. No one is saying everything would need to happen at once. In some states, however, legislation has been passed which gives districts a deadline to have all changes made. If it were to come to this, taxpayers would need to foot a much larger bill than if the district had made the decision to change on its own because the district would no longer have the option of setting its own timeline to make the transition.
Copy link to see how other Iowa school districts have made the change:
https://acrobat.adobe.com/id/urn:aaid:sc:us:83414c1a-cf0d-41bf-b49d-55f7afff2b12
This doesn't hurt anyone
This doesn't hurt anyone
Please see page "The Research Shows" for further information on the very real harms of race-based names and mascots.
“It’s an honor. We love Indians, we are doing this to honor them.”
First, here in Indianola, our school has been using “Indians” at least as far back as 1915. In 1915, Indians weren’t allowed citizenship so we couldn’t vote. The United States government mandated our children go to their Indian schools, so they could prepare them to live as non-Indians. How was it an honor to call your non-Native children Indians when real Indians weren’t even allowed rights of citizenship? (https://www.nlm.nih.gov/nativevoices/timeline/431.html#:~:text=Inspired%20by%20the%20high%20rate,the%20last%20to%20receive%20citizenship.)
Second. Hundreds of tribes across the country have been asking for over 50 years for schools to stop using them as mascots……how can we be honoring a people we won’t even listen to?
(https://www.ncai.org/proudtobe)
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